Here’s how Bastl Instruments improved on their Knit Rider sequencer

While a lot of other modules are making sequencers that behave more like a computer, Bastl’s Knit Rider keeps to the hardware feel. And it just got better.

Apart from having one of the best pun names anything ever had, ever, Knit Rider’s appeal is being able to pack lots of complex sequencing features into a compact, hands-on interface – look ma, no display! So yeah, you don’t have a “tiny computer in a module” – though there’s an argument for that. You get buttons. And those buttons have sub-steps, so you aren’t stuck with 16-step patterns.

I asked the uncannily insightful Václav Peloušek for some insights into what’s new. They listened to their various friends playing this one, and adjusted. In a word: feel.

We especially focused on how the sequencer feels by adding swing and random variation of trigger length, and making the timing core very solid. The performance aspect has been always important for the concept of the sequencer, and while at first we focused mainly on the live sequencing, now we have adjusted the UI to also work well while being occupied by playing other instruments.

Sequencing is important. Through sequencing, we can make driving, exciting music, like … well, like… Hey, in reward for reading CDM, you know what? You’ve earned this. Let’s go.